Armed conflicts, environmental disasters, terrorism, and the war on terror: What sends shivers down our spine as a constant outbreak of violence is, for René Girard, an expression of a planetary law of unleashed violence that brings our civilization to the brink of a true apocalypse. War is no longer the continuation of politics by other means; the means have become autonomous, perpetuating war indefinitely, Girard asserts, continuing the thoughts of the Prussian military historian Carl von Clausewitz. In this conversation book with Benoît Chantre, Girard embarks on a historical excursion through Franco-German relations, debates the role of the Church and the Pope, discusses the causes of global terrorism, and issues a dire warning: "An end to Europe, to the West, indeed to the whole world is possible.".